Getting Adjusted

Mom and I have gotten a lot done since I've been home. Yesterday we met with the cake lady and it seems like she knows what she's doing. She is going to use the little cake toppers I made of Ryan and I!

We also met with the hair-lady. She also seems like a good pick. She flopped my hair around and looked at the pictures I bought. She wants to part my haior on the side for the wedding. I usually just "part" my hair where ever it decides to fall. She told me to start parting it on the side now to "train" it so that it will be used to the side part for the wedding. I kept it side-parted for the rest of the day and by last night it was painful! Like having a pony-tail in too long.

We also met with the minister on Monday. Nice guy. We met him at Dunkin Donuts in Niles and our congressman, Tim Ryan was there!

We met him in Niles because we were visiting my Dad and Baba, and had lunch at Red Lobster by the Eastwood Mall.

We are leaving in a few minutes to see the chiropractor. I need an adjustment. My back has felt off-kilter the past month or so, so hopefully he can correct it.

After that its lunch with my grandparents at Drake's Landing. My mom and I are usually spent by 3pm on these types of days. We usually head home at that time and are in our PJs by 3:30. We'll see how today goes!

Eggstra fun at home

I am officially home in Youngtown for spring break! I drove home straight from work today. It took almost 3 hours when I can usually make it in 2.5. It rained the whole way, plus I stopped at Goasis at exit 186 for a blueberry cappucino.


Its nice to be home, though I started sneezing as soon as I picked up my dog. I swear I wasn't this allergic to little Winston when I lived here.

When I got in, my mom immediately showed me all of the wedding paraphenallia that she has been working on. She's really put a lot of work into the centerpieces and general decor, including an adorable arch to go over our cake toppers on the cake.


I petered out on the matchbox favors. I made around 70 and I ain't maikin no more. My mom said we can just stick them in a basket by the door. I don't think I'll have to buy matches for the rest of my life.

We also had a chance to color some eggs before bed. They are made with a coloring kit from Baba (my grandma). Here are a few pics:

Bed, Bath, and Target

Boop...Boop...Boop... No thats not a heart monitor beeping, its Ryan and I registering for our wedding gifts. We stopped at Bed, Bath, and Beyond to get our registry started yesterday. We found a lot of nice things, but the lady kept trying to up-sell us to 700 cookware. To get started we registered for 33 items at BBB. We then went to Target and found a bunch of things there that were cheaper then BBB, and moved some items to the Target registry.

Between the stops we ate at CiCi's. We had a coupon for a buy-one-get-one buffet with the purchase of 2 drinks. But the girl at the counter didnt really read it so we didn't have to get the drinks, MWAHAHA! But I think karma came back around because the kids in there were loading up on Vault and extra annoying.

I'll post my latest ATCs, then I really need to study for my Psychiatric Nursing final which is at noon today.

Here ya go. Themes are "What's Your Name?" and "Castles."

Breaking in Spring

Ryan's Spring Break has officially begun. If I had to make a nursing diagnosis out of this it would be:

Risk for not returning to school, as evidenced by excessive fun and comfort being on break, secondary to nice weather and outdoor climbing.

Interventions: Bring up 'teeth' often.
Encourage client to voice feelings.
Assess for smiles and relaxed sighs q2hours.

Outcomes: Client will verbalize understanding of importance of returning to school by discharge.

Evaluation: No progress noted this shift.

Enjoy these pictures from Ryan's first outing of spring break. We went climbing at the brand new outdoor wall just south of downtown Columbus.

Help - I'm hooked!

Good thing there is a break coming up - because I will be making lots and lots of ATCs! Here are a few of my latest, he theme of the first 3 was "Outrageous Hats" the theme of the second 3 was "Paint-over Madness," which are all photographs, partially painted over...

Ryan and I have been watching the new Lady Gaga video "Telephone," lately. In an interview, Gaga said she missed the days in which music videos were an event, and people and anticipated and celebrated them. Anyway, we love the video, as nutty and crazy as it is. Its already in our heads. I watched a youtube on how to apply bad-ass retro makeup like she wears in the video. I think I needed more eye-liner.

Hippy Hippy Shake

Yesterday the hip scarves I ordered came in. I ordered two to wear in the Latin Fusion dance classes I take. Sometimes the instructor wears one and some others in the class do too. Take a look:

ATCs- and I don't mean air traffic controls

To start off the week I found a very simple recipe in one of our Rachel Ray magazines. Black bean and sweet potato quesadillas (my spell check just just went nuts on that word). Some flour tortillas, a can of black beans, some cheese, some cooked chicken - throw it all on the panini maker and smash - and you have your self a quick, tasty dinner. It was a hit, and Ryan and I both brought the leftovers to school for lunch the next day.

Speaking of new dinners, Ryan and I had an opportunity to try Somali food for the first time on Wednesday. I work with an aide at Trillium who is from Somalia. I asked her where Ryan and I could find some authentic Somali food, as we had never tried it, and she offered to take us to one of her favorite restaurants. It was called African Paradise. She told us all about her life in Africa, and how she transitioned to the United States as we dined on rice, salmon, chicken, goat, flat-bread, a tomato based dipping sauce, and bananas. we also had a pitcher of mango juice. It was really fun to hear her stories and eat real Somali food. We had plenty of left overs for lunch the next day. Now we can add that to our growing cultural food list. So far we've had Ethiopian, Somali, Korean, Greek, Indian, Bali, Lebanese, and I'm sure there's more I can't think of.

In hobby news, I have discovered a new one! ATCs! Artist Trading Cards. There is an entire community of artists who make small masterpieces on playing-cards sized paper/canvas. They swap them online or in person for other cards. Some of the swaps have themes, and others are open. I am totally hooked. I've already joined some swaps and made some cards. The site I joined up with is ATCsforall.com. Just what I needed as finals approach, a new hobby to distract me.

Here are some of the cards I've made. The top 2 are for an "Homage to Tim Burton" swap, and the bottom 4 are for a "Gesso Faces" swap, in which the artist finds a face in a magazine, applies a thin veil of gesso, and brings out the face by drawing or painting. I can't wait to send them in and get new cards in return!

Yesterday marked 6 months until wedding. My brain celebrated by creating a terrible nightmare about my mother being my hair stylist for the big day (no offense, mom), and me ending up with the same hair cut I was cursed with in January of 2008. For those that remember, it wasn't pretty. I also had no groom, and attempted to hold the wedding at McDonald's. When it was all said and done, I had no recollection that the wedding even happened. It was very strange and I was relieved to wake up.

The Youngstown Vindicator 3/7/10

Fat guy in a little coat...

...Only this version is "Tall guy at a little table!" Last night Ryan and I went out to dinner with my dearest best friend Ang and her boyfriend Paul. We ended up at Sushi En, one of only 2 places I've had sushi. Paul suffers from what he calls TFS, or "Tall Freak Syndrome." Considering this I jumped at the opportunity to have all 4 of us seated a table about 4 inches off the ground.

Ang and Paul:

We were instructed to take off our shoes, although Ang didn't comply with this, and sit on the floor. We had chairs with no legs, just a seat and a back. All through the meal we were shifting our legs around, trying to keep them from falling asleep, while simultaneously hitting our knees over and over, and over again. Poor Paul couldn't even get his legs under the table and just kinda sat sideways the whole meal.

Here's a picture of our legs crammed under the table:

The food was good, and instead of fortune cookies like at a Chinese place, we were given little orange boats. Refreshing!

Ryan complained about how he could have eaten 4 sushi rolls on his own rather than the 2 rolls we split. It's true, sushi is pricey and you don't get much food. It was a great time though, and very tasty. We stopped at Chic-fil-a on the way home and each ordered 8 nuggets. Ryan also had a bowl of cereal when we got back.

Dentists and Dancing

I sure hope my chocolate pecan cookie from Whole Foods constitutes the "Healthy protein and carb snack" that my instructor recommended at the end of Latin Fusion this evening.

Last week I went along with Ryan to his dental lab at school. I used the compressed air to clean out his keyboard (strangely, one of my favorite pastimes), while he worked on some stuff for class. I was able to get some shots of him in action!

On Tuesday evening I decided it had been far too long since I went out with the girls from Lifetime to salsa. We went to Martini Park at Easton. It a classy joint, more of a bar atmosphere than La Fogata, which is ok. I think I'd choose La Fogata if given the choice.

My Zumba instructor, Pam, orchestrates these get togethers and I love her for it. She introduced me to salsa and now I can't get enough! Here are some pictures Karen snapped of the evening.